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Antler
Antler (born Brad Burdick, 1946, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, USA) is an American poet who lives in Wisconsin. Among other honors, Antler received the Whitman Prize from the Walt Whitman Association, given to the poet "whose contribution best reveals the continuing presence of Walt Whitman in American poetry," in 1985. Antler also was awarded the Witter Bynner prize in 1987. Antler was the poet laureate of the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for 2002 and 2003. He is also an advocate for wilderness protection. Biography Known professionally as Antler, Brad Burdick has been critically acclaimed and recognized worldwide for his poetry. He earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and a master’s degree in English from UW-Milwaukee and also attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. A follower of Thoreau’s ideology, Antler explored the Upper Midwest and West, working in a variety of odd jobs. Believing that poetry is a catalyst for a better world, Antler has devoted his life to his writing. His works have been published in more than 1,000 literary magazines, including American Poetry Review and The New York Quarterly. He has been honored by PEN – The International Writers Organization, the American Academy and Institute of Arts & Letters, the Walt Whitman Association and the Wisconsin Arts Board. In 2002 he was named Milwaukee’s second Poet Laureate, and he received the Major Achievement Award from the Council for Wisconsin Writers in 2003. Education and career Antler is an alumni of Wauwatosa Senior High School. He received a bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 1970. Later he completed a master's degree in English from the same university after spending some time at the noted Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. During the 1970s he also worked at various factory and other jobs just long enough to get money to support his poetry writing and time spent in wilderness areas across the United States. Antler's first major work, the long poem Factory, was published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti's City Lights Bookstore in 1980. Allen Ginsberg declared him as "one of Whitman's `poets and orators to come'". The collection Last Words appeared in 1986 from Ballantine Books, and''Antler: The Selected Poems'' was published in 2000 by Soft Skull Press. He has also published several chapbooks and has contributed to numerous local, national, and international journals and anthologies. Writing style Antler's work exhibits a punk sensibility, an unabashed sense of humor and a cutting satirical edge. His work reflects the influences of Walt Whitman, Allen Ginsberg, and the American traditions of transcendentalism and environmentalism. He celebrates the wilderness, often comparing urban, industrial life unfavorably with natural phenomena. His frank, sometimes earthy poems frequently exhibit sexual and spiritual energy entwined with the wonder of the natural world. Books * Factory - (1980) City Lights * Last Words - (1986) Ballantine * Antler: The Selected Poems - (2000) Soft Skull Press Awards * Whitman Award from the Whitman Society of Camden, New Jersey * Witter Bynner Prize from the Academy & Institute of Arts and Letters in New York Category:Persons of Note Category:Poets Category:Wall of Inspiration honorees Category:1946 births Category:Wauwatosa East Alumni